1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer capable of setting a second paper therein while maintaining a first paper in its set state and of printing any data on the newly set paper, and furthermore to a paper insertion apparatus suitable for the printer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A printer of this type is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 58-31313 U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,113. The printer is capable of treating different types of documents such, for example, as receipt tapes, etc., for monetary transactions, scrips and multipart documents for relatively complicated businesses such as taxation and sales, etc. The apparatus has a first receipt tape feed passage for guiding a receipt tape delivered from a supply roll housed in the apparatus to a printing part, and a second scrip feed passage for guiding a scrip inserted by an operator from the front of the apparatus to the printing part. The apparatus can print data about monetary transactions on a receipt tape guided through the first receipt tape feed passage and put a scrip inserted from the outside on the receipt tape and print any data about taxation and sales, etc., on the scrip.
The device can feed a paper between a pinch roller and a platen provided upward of the printing part, and with the paper pressed by the pinch roller, move the paper by rotation of the platen.
However, such a prior printer as described above suffers from a disadvantage that, upon guiding a paper inserted from the upper part to a pinch roller provided upward, the paper may be caught on a ribbon guide and a ribbon protector included in the printing part, and thus it is difficult to set the paper. In addition, a guide part for inserting a scrip cannot keep a paper therein since it merely comprises a horn type cavity and does not position the paper in place.
Moreover, the apparatus is made thicker by a space corresponding to a passage needed to insert the scrip. As a result, the apparatus is unsuitable for desktop use or it must have a hole made in a table for allowing the paper to pass therethrough.